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From the category "Dept. of Self-Inflicted Wounds," some liberal organizations are upset with the decision by the Democratic National Committee to appoint the Rev. Derrick Harkins of the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church to lead its religious outreach efforts. According to a report at Christianity Today, some groups are upset because Harkins is not slavishly pro-choice and he has been ambivalent about gay marriage.
This is just dumb. And it is a particular brand of narcissistic dumbness. It should not come as a suprise that large numbers of black voters are anti-abortion, nor that they have deep reservations about gay marriage. But, special interest groups that focus on only these issues, and seek to impose a litmus test on the entire Democratic Party, fail to see the need for a "big tent" on such issues. Do these liberal groups think President Obama stands a chance at re-election if he cannot galvanize balck church-goers to come to the polls? How do they think their pet concerns will fare in a Perry or Romney administration? And, how are Democrats going to enlist the support of Latino voters who share some of the same concerns as black voters regarding abortion and same sex marriage?
